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StarCraft II: Flashpoint
|image=Flashpoint Cover1.jpg |imgsize=200px |author=Christie Golden |editor= |artist= |intartist= |series= |parent= |pages=320 |publisher=Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books) |published=November 6, 2012 |binding=Hardcover E-bookStarcraft: Secret Missions (e-book). Simon & Schuster. Accessed 2011-08-13. |isbn10=ISBN 1451-65962-8 |isbn13=ISBN 978-1451-65962-7 |isbn10e=ISBN 1416-56004-1 |isbn13e=ISBN 978-1416-56004-3 |inseries1= |inseries2= |inseries3= |inseries4= |inseries5= |inseries6= |inseries7= |inseries8= |inseries9= |inseries10= }} StarCraft II: Flashpoint (formerly titled Secret Missions) is a StarCraft universe novel, written by Christie Golden,Starcraft II: Flashpoint. Simon & Schuster. Accessed 2012-03-02.Medievaldragon. 2011-07-11. StarCraft: Secret Missions. Blizzplanet. Accessed 2011-07-11. It was published November 6, 2012.Medievaldragon. 2012-01-15. StarCraft: Flashpoint by Christie Golden. Blizzplanet. Accessed 2011-01-19. It ties in with the events of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.StarCraft II: Flashpoint (Hardcover). Amazon. Accessed 2011-12-16. Description Front Overleaf “Jim, I know what I did. I remember. Billions dead . . . because of me!” “That was not you,” Jim said firmly. “That was the Queen of Blades. What they made you into. You’re back to being Sarah again. And we’re together now. So just hush, honey.” He had put off touching the strange tentacles that adorned her head in place of hair. Everything else was so human, so much the woman he remembered, but that....Now he did so, keeping her fingers entwined with his as he reached with his other hand to gently stroke back the spiny protuberances. He steeled himself for the contact. To his surprise, they felt warm beneath his touch, like skin. Like Sarah's skin. And any hesitation he'd had about still loving her—hesitation he had pushed down so deep into his soul that he himself hadn't been aware of it until right now—vanished like a bad dream. But the touch didn't comfort her. She turned her head, trying to pull away. Respecting her needs, Jim withdrew his hand. “It doesn’t matter. Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades...you don’t understand,” she murmured. “Maybe you can never understand. I’ve always been a destroyer of things. Anything I touch, anything I care about...that’s why they picked me, Jim. Because I’m a destroyer of things....” She closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. Jim sat back, trying to sort out what she had said. How much of it was real, and how much was the pain talking? And despite what he had told Sarah—despite what he kept telling himself—he couldn't help but wonder how much of the massacre of billions had been only the Queen of Blades...and how much had been Sarah Kerrigan. Back Cover The Queen of Blades has fallen. The sinister zerg leader no longer commands her legions of bloodthirsty aliens against the humans of the Koprulu sector, all thanks to the combined courage and tenacity of Jim Raynor, General Horace Warfield, and a mismatched team of Dominion soldiers and outlaw rebels. Although the queen is no more, Sarah Kerrigan is very much alive. The woman who once controlled countless alien minds in a rampage across the stars has been spirited away by the man who dethroned her. Now Arcturus Mengsk’s Dominion armada is on her heels, roaring for blood. Jim Raynor will need to test his strength, his wit, and his loyalties against impossible odds to protect the woman he loves. StarCraft II: Flashpoint bridges the events that take place in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and the upcoming StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Featuring never-before-seen glimpses into Jim Raynor's and Sarah Kerrigan's past, this novel opens a window into a world of passion, action, and adventure. Summary On Char, Jim Raynor saved the partially deinfested Sarah Kerrigan from Tychus Findlay, who now lay dead. He and a small team of soldiers took Kerrigan out of the tunnel and called Matt Horner for a dropship to pick his team up, along with the team that held the xel'naga artifact. Meanwhile, Kerrigan's health was failing, and medic Lily Preston was treating her as if she was terran; Preston didn't believe this was a working strategy. Meanwhile, the Raiders had to contend with the zerg, which were fighting each other as well as the terrans. The Raiders dispersed the zerg, but had to head to a zerg-infested plateau as the only nearby landing site for the dropship. The Fanfare arrived during the battle on the plateau, and Kerrigan and Preston were loaded inside. Shortly afterward the team with the artifact arrived, and the Fanfare took off. However, due to mutalisk attacks, it had to be picked up by the Bucephalus, leaving Raynor, Kerrigan and the artifact there. The Hyperion and Valerian Mengsk's fleet, commanded from the Bucephalus, were confronted by the undamaged half of the Dominion fleet led by Arcturus Mengsk in the White Star. Arcturus demanded Valerian hand over Kerrigan, but Valerian refused, as he had knowledge of the prophecy, and wanted to take Kerrigan to see Emil Narud, a specialist on the zerg. During the ensuing battle, Valerian's fleet was damaged further but managed to escape when the Hyperion arrived on the scene, luring zerg to the White Star's location. Egon Stetmann told Raynor he didn't have the skill to treat Kerrigan. Valerian tried to convince Raynor to bring Kerrigan to see the head of the Moebius Foundation, Dr. Emil Narud. Arcturus's fleet appeared at the rebel fleet's location only 15 minutes later. The size of the rebel fleet dropped even further as Arcturus's fleet destroyed more battlecruisers. The rebels managed to escape again. The Raiders believed the Bucephalus had been implanted with tracking bugs, and engineers Rory Swann, Earl and Annabelle Thatcher were put aboard to search for them. Arcturus's fleet arrived yet again while Thatcher was still aboard the Bucephalus. The Herakles, one of Valerian's ships, rammed the White Star, doing significant damage to it, and letting the rebels escape yet again. It turned out the Herakles had been emptied of crew and put on autopilot, and Valerian's discussion with his father was merely a deception, helped by Thatcher's authentic reactions. She and the Bucephalus's navigator, Travis Rawlins, started a relationship as a result of the interaction. The fleet skirmishes reduced the refugees to just the Hyperion and the Bucephalus. Raynor suggested hiding out at Dead Man's Rock, under the protection of Mira Han, the "wife" of Matt Horner. They hid their ships in a junkyard there, physically altering them. Raynor and Kerrigan descended to the surface. Raynor and Kerrigan were sent to a safe house which turned out to be former crime lord Scutter O'Banon's old housing complex. Valerian paid a visit to the Hyperion and struck up a conversation with the bartender, Cooper. As they traded questions, Valerian told him about the help they were receiving from Han. Shortly afterward, Horner met Valerian and started messing up his face and hair with grease, in order to disguise him as a local. The two descended to Dead Man's Rock and headed to a secret communications bunker, where they could send a message to Dr. Narud. They were ambushed by Scarlip and some of his thugs, but Valerian beat them up with a combination of martial arts and knives. At the communications hut, they met Gary Crane, one of Han's mercenaries. Valerian had a brief conversation with Narud. Raynor met up with Valerian and Horner at a bar under Crane's supervision. Narud joined them there. He began by saying he needed to run tests on Kerrigan, but Raynor harshly refused. Meanwhile, Kerrigan awoke in the safe house and her powers activated. She detected the ambush, and mercenary ships began attacking the junk pile hiding the Hyperion and Bucephalus. Rory Swann immediately ordered the Hyperion to break free and launch. As Raynor, Valerian, Horner and Narud tried to leave the bar, Crane's forces attacked them. He had turned against Han. Valerian's fighting prowess took the attackers by surprise, and the group of rebels were able to flee, though Horner's arm was wounded. They stumbled into an abandoned prefab home where Narud gave Horner medical treatment. From there, Horner contacted Han while Valerian contacted the Bucephalus's captain, Everett Vaughn. This prompted the Bucephalus to also launch. It launched its top of the line vikings, enabling the rebels to fend off the mercenaries and even their own battlecruiser. Han sent Kerrigan to the Bucephalus and gave instructions to the rebels about a secret tunnel under their building, one so secret even her own men (such as Crane) were unaware of it. The rebels escaped. A frustrated Crane contacted his source... Cooper, who gave him the coordinates for Raynor's rendezvous and tactical advice. However, Han arrived with transport and backup for the rebels, who were able to escape. She then began terminating the rebellion, starting with Crane... As the rebels left Dead Man's Rock, Kerrigan made it clear she does not trust Narud or his scientists. The rebel ships traveled to the Kirkegaard Belt, home of the secret Moebius Foundation station, Space Station Prometheus. The route needed to go through the belt, also known as the "Kick-You-Good" Belt, was complicated and dangerous. As a result, the belt was feared by terran navigators. Narud wanted to keep most of the station's secrets, but Raynor said that would result in a mutiny. Valerian convinced Narud to give up some of the station's secrets. As a sign of confidence, the Bucephalus would go first, and the Hyperion would follow. Valerian, Raynor, Kerrigan, Narud and Egon Stetmann traveled ahead there. Kerrigan still didn't trust the station or Narud, and prepared for combat. Travis Rawlings told Annabelle Thatcher an idea he had about arming the Fanfare before leaving to pilot the Bucephalus. Thatcher then went to tell Rory Swann about the Fanfare idea. As the visitors reached the asteroid, Narud ordered it to uncloak. It was hidden by a hologram. Some of these defensive ideas had been suggested by Valerian. Raynor noted the station's apparent xel'naga design. Upon landing, the Raiders were discomfitted by the armed reception they received. Valerian defused the situation. Kerrigan told Raynor she had met Narud before, but "not as himself", and she recognized his psionic signature. Narud tried to order tests on Kerrigan immediately, but this was rejected. Doctors took Kerrigan to sickbay along with Raynor. There, Kerrigan said the station lab felt like the Confederacy lab where she was experimented on. Stetmann talked with Dr. Chantal de Vries while Kerrigan underwent preliminary tests. Narud offered repair teams for the still-damaged battlecruisers, which were gratefully accepted. Narud viewed the xel'naga artifact along with Raynor and Valerian. He called it a weapon, and its ability to destroy protoss and zerg DNA would naturally be viewed this way. He also said the way the terrans had used it was not the designer's intent. Narud invited Raynor and Valerian to dinner, where Narud quizzed Raynor so thoroughly that the latter felt he was being interrogated. Raynor contacted Stetmann, but the latter said he'd rather spend the time with deVries. The dinner turned into an ambush. Narud and Arcturus Mengsk were in contact, and Stetmann had in fact been taken prisoner. During the skirmish, Narud cloaked and, after taunting Raynor that Kerrigan was "already dead", fled. The two rebel battlecruisers could not help due to sabotage from the "repair" teams, and had to first reverse the sabotage, a task made more difficult because the Dominion fleet had shown up and was attacking, literally blasting the asteroids into stardust in their effort to get to the station quickly. The Raiders noticed the sabotage, almost too late. Horner quietly contacted Thatcher in engineering while Swann and the "repair teams" argued. Horner then dispatched troops to engineering. Raynor intended to rescue Kerrigan and Stetmann before leaving. Kerrigan was attacked by a ghost and several marines but defeated them, broke out of her lab and rescued Stetmann. During Raynor's flight, he was attacked by Narud's marines as well as a pair of hybrid that Narud had kept stored. Mengsk contacted the station, telling Raynor and Valerian to surrender. He'd let them live, as long as Kerrigan died. He said that Narud had a frequency which could render the hybrid docile. Kerrigan flew into a rage at hearing Mengsk's voice. She used her powers to destroy the hybrid, terrifying Stetmann. Meanwhile, a fleet battle broke out, with the rebel ships badly compromised despite last-minute repair attempts. The two rebel ships launched fighters. Cooper had skill with flying a Wraith and took one out. The reunited Raiders on the station (plus Valerian) tried to stop Narud from escaping with the artifact, but he got to a transport first. During the battle, Kerrigan killed numerous marines and was fighting a third hybrid when the Fanfare, now armed, arrived to rescue them. Thatcher was aboard to ensure the weapons were working. The Fanfare attacked Narud's transport, but he escaped with the artifact. Then it opened fire on the hybrid, killing it. During the battle, Kerrigan's powers killed Thatcher. The Raiders on the station boarded the Fanfare, along with Valerian and Kerrigan. The White Star attacked it, but the Bucephalus attacked it, drawing its attention. The Fanfare escaped. At this point, the two rebel battlecruisers began doing short-distance warp jumps in the "stardust" clouds, which they'd irradiated to make them harder to find. This gave them the time to plan a long-distance warp jump and escape. The Raiders were worried about Kerrigan. Valerian offered a top-secret Umojan Protectorate orbital platform, where the battlecruisers could finally be repaired, as well as treatment for Kerrigan. Kerrigan swore revenge on Arcturus Mengsk. Kerrigan and Raynor Flashbacks Previously unseen missions of Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor during the Great War in 2500 were featured in Flashpoint, taking place from the Battle of Antiga Prime but before the Fall of Tarsonis. The two gradually lost faith in Arcturus Mengsk. The first flashback recounted Kerrigan and Raynor's first meeting. Raynor's first thoughts about Kerrigan were desirous, until she reminded him she could read minds. Afterwards, his thoughts became hostile, as he was plagued by memories of his son, Johnny, a psychic. Some time afterward, they met with Mengsk, who noted their improving relationship. Raynor emotionally affirmed his loyalty to Mengsk. Kerrigan and Raynor were sent to the single moon orbiting G-2275, a gas giant. The moon was one of the Confederacy's greatest technological hubs. The facility housed designs for upgraded goliaths. Kerrigan had been there a year before and so was familiar with it. She had found a way past their security codes. The Sons of Korhal raid was successful; not only did the Confederacy lose the goliath designs, the rebels could upgrade their own goliaths. Raynor and Kerrigan were sent to raid a science facility on Orna III where the test subjects experimented on without consent, and were treated horrifically. The Cormorant, captained by Sharyn Moore and Matt Horner, transported them. Kerrigan brought aboard micro-explosives, which she hadn't told Mengsk about, nor did she tell Raynor until well into the trip. She intended to destroy the research rather than hand it over to Mengsk. Kerrigan, who knew her way around the facility, pretended to be a ghost who had arrested the criminal Raynor. The deception worked. Several scientists and all the test subjects were rescued. The corrupt scientists were killed and the facility destroyed. Afterward offered her a drink and a real date at Sam's Place. That night, Kerrigan made Raynor promise that if the darkness in her ever went out of control, she would stop it. One of Mengsk's spies saw Kerrigan leaving Raynor's quarters and told Mengsk about it. Mengsk told Raynor he shouldn't have a relationship with Kerrigan so he "wouldn't get hurt" and that Kerrigan was a "weapon". Raynor wouldn't discuss this conversation with Kerrigan for four years. Some time later, Raynor and Kerrigan argued about Mengsk. Raynor believed Mengsk wanted to destroy the Confederacy in order to create a power vacuum and then step in as a savior. However, Kerrigan believed he just wanted to destroy the corruption of the Confederacy, such as the Ghost Program. Characters Major Characters *Sarah Kerrigan *Jim Raynor Supporting Characters *Mira Han *Matt Horner *Arcturus Mengsk *Valerian Mengsk *Emil Narud *Rory Swann *Annabelle Thatcher Minor Characters *Dr. Becker *Cooper *Gary Crane *Earl *Cam Fraser *Dr. Frederick *Haynes *Lisle *Wil Merrick *Captain Roger Merriman *Mitchell *Osgood *Lily Preston *Prometheus hybrid *Travis Rawlins *Dr. Joseph Reynolds *Rolfsen *"Scarlip" *Dr. Adrian Scott *Egon Stetmann *Elias Thompson *Tseng *Varley *Captain Everett Vaughn *Vrain *Warren *Dr. Maddie Wilson *Dr. Nancy Wyndham *Dr. Yeats Mentioned Characters *Boots *Rosemary Dahl *Tychus Findlay *Dr. Orville Harris *Milo Kachinsky *Patrick Kerrigan (not by name) *Scutter O'Banon *Dr. Elizabeth Martin *Sharyn Moore *Dr. Phan *Jake Ramsey *Phillip Randall *Johnny Raynor *Liddy Raynor *Ethan Stewart Notes *The book's original description was identical to that of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.Blizzard Entertainment staff. Story. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2011-07-12.Simon & Schuster staff. Starcraft: Secret Missions. Simon & Schuster catalog. Accessed 2011-07-12. *A later book description was erroneous in that it claimed that Raynor was an ex-Dominion marshalBlizzard Entertainment. 2012-08-13. New StarCraft II Novel Flashpoint Coming in November – Pre-Order Now. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2012-08-13. when in actual fact he was a marshal who served the Terran Confederacy.Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998. The book's current description no longer has this error. *In the description of one of the Space Station Promethius hybrid, the book describes it as having "a mutalisk's scythe-arms." Mutalisks possess no such appendages, and this likely was supposed to reference the arms of a hydralisk. *The book's flashback sections detail Raynor and Kerrigan's romance and intercourse during their time in the Sons of Korhal. This contradicts StarCraft: Queen of Blades, which stated that Raynor and Kerrigan had never been physically romantically involved.Rosenberg, Aaron (May 23, 2006). StarCraft: Queen of Blades. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7133-6. References Golden, Christie (November 6, 2012). StarCraft II: Flashpoint. Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books). ISBN 978-1451-65962-7. External Links *Blizzard Entertainment. 2012-11-07. StarCraft II: Flashpoint Now Available. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2012-11-07. (excerpt) *Blizzard Entertainment. 2013-02-04. Check Out Flashpoint Before Heart of the Swarm. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2013-02-04. (chapter 15 excerpt) *Blizzplanet Review – StarCraft II: Flashpoint Category:Novels